Schadefreude v.s. Sturm und Drang :Will Abu Hamza's lawyers now request his extradition to the US for his protection ?
March 8, 2005

MIM:The British tabloid headline above referred to deporting Hamza and stripping him of his citizenship.(Hamza is wanted in Yemen for his connection to the Cole bombings).

Before going to jail Hamza was collecting thousands of pounds in welfare benefits and the police protection which enable Hamza and his followers to pray outside the Finsbury Park mosque, (which was 'home' to shoe bomber Richard Reid and other terrorists),cost taxpayers nearly 90.000 pounds. Hamza's legal defense is expected to cost millions, since he and his lawyers ( at least one of whom is a Muslim), are filing motions intended to drain taxpayer and government money and resources, and to and use the case to eliciti media coverage for phony charges of anti Muslim discrimination'. No doubt this alleged 'attack' will be exploited to the hilt to promote Hamza as a 'martyr'.

Since being in jail Hamza has cost the British taxpayers thousands of pounds in medical fees (which included 5,000 for a new 'hook') and a chiropedist's visit after Hamza claimed he was 'having trouble walking' due to 'long toenails' which 'prevented' him from appearing in a video hookup for a court hearing . http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/370

A prison spokesman also announced the planned building of a new 1.6 million pound mosque ($ &3,200 ml) to accomodate Hamza and his cronies who claimed they could not pray in the exisiting chapel. Adding further 'insult to injury', Hamza also announced he was suing the welfare department for back payments for him and his family totalling thousands of poundshttp://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/123345/1/.html

RADICAL Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, charged with 16 offences including incitement to murder Jews, has been attacked by a fellow detainee in the high-security Belmarsh prison, The Sun daily reported.

The paper quoted Abu Mussa, a spokesman for the former head of London's Finsbury Park mosque.

"It was a violent physical incident involving another inmate but I do not know whether a weapon was used," Mussa said. "There is no information on whether he received treatment.

"There are some tasty characters in there. They don't care about getting caught and one of them wanted to show Hamza exactly what they think of him."

Belmarsh prison in London holds some of Britain's most dangerous prisoners.

Mussa said the former imam had previously received threats from other prisoners.

Hamza, 47, a distinctive figure with one eye and a hooked hand, was charged in October with 10 counts of soliciting murder. The little-used charge relates to inciting others to murder unspecified people and carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. His trial will begin in July.

In Hamza's case it is connected to alleged incitement by the cleric at public gatherings to kill non-Muslims, specifically Jews, according to four of the charges.

He was also charged with four counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour with intent to stir up racial hatred; one count of possessing threatening, abusive or insulting sound recordings; and one count of possessing a terrorist document.

Hamza is sought for extradition by the United States on separate charges, with this process suspended until the British court case is completed.

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Abu Hamza al-Masri, a Muslim cleric charged with inciting violence, was attacked in London's Belmarsh jail where he is being held, the Sun newspaper reported on its Web site, citing an unidentified prison official.

The newspaper said the cleric, who is also wanted by U.S. authorities, was "viciously" attacked, without providing any more information.

Al-Masri in October was charged by a U.K. court with 16 offenses, including encouraging the murder of non-Muslims and inciting racial hatred, which halted proceedings by the U.S. government to extradite him.

Al-Masri, 47, faces 10 counts of encouraging the murder of non-Muslims at public meetings and four of using "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior with the aim of stirring up racial hatred."

Secret tapes obtained by the Daily Mirror show how the one-eyed cleric has urged violence at recruitment meetings across Britain - and warned that the infidel should be kept on the run.

Hamza, 44, appearing at an Islamic rally in London yesterday, denied telling followers that it was all right to kill westerners living and working in foreign lands.

But on one of the six video tapes made at private meetings around the country the fanatic tells impressionable young supporters: "What are they doing there anyway? Most of them are spies.

"Even if they don't do anything - if Muslims cannot take them and sell them in the market - kill them, it's OK."

DANGEROUS TALK: Hamza in a clip from the secret videos obtained by The Mirror

Egyptian-born Hamza, who lost an eye and had both arms blown off by a landmine during the Afghan war against the Russians, is leader of the Supporters of Shariah movement based at the mosque in Finsbury Park, North London.

He has denied recruiting British Muslims into the al-Qaeda terrorist network and claims inflammatory statements attributed to him are fabricated.

But at meetings behind closed doors, he urges followers to take up arms against the infidel.

"We have to push our children to the front line," he said. "Everybody wants his son to be killed like a lion."

Hamza said anyone standing in the way of his Islam would spend their life in fear.

HE warned: "They should always be worried. They should always be on the run. They should always feel insecure."

At a mosque in Birmingham, the sheikh issued another call to arms.

He said: "Why should there be a battle? Why should there be an argument?

"But a struggle means sometimes arguing to convey the message. Even if it means you convey the message by carrying a sword.

"Allah wants to know who will sacrifice for him."

During a question and answer session, Hamza said banks were a Jewish establishment, the work of Satan.

Robbing them and kafirs, or unbelievers, could be acceptable because they were not protected by Allah. He said: "I say go and do it (steal), take shoot and loot.

"Every battle has its purpose. Ours is to put the authority of Allah and humiliate kafir who are challenging the authority of Allah and Muslims.

"Sometimes you will feel too weak to go on, but you say 'I still have some strength to humiliate and kill and remove some of the germs who are making me weak so that people who come after me can carry on with weaker enemies'."

Hamza also backed burglary and theft from non-believers. He said: "I can't see any problem giving yourself a free hand - getting yourself a new car.

"Go for their houses where you can loot and come back. It is like going to the forest and picking up wood from no man's land."

On one video Hamza says it is legitimate to wage war against targets such as the American embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi which were attacked by al-Qaeda in 1998.

The sheikh is also heard giving advice to those joining a jihad, or holy war. He said: "Allah made the contract that a certain kind of believer will fight in the cause of Allah ... they will kill in the cause of Allah.

"Jihad is their fight and it is also an obligation. But some people call this terrorism."

"Jihad is the only way to protect believers. Jihad comes first.

"I do not want you to say 'I believe in one God'. No, no. I want you to make trouble for kafirs.

"Before you can say I believe in you God I want you to put everybody's god in the dustbin.

"And so you insult kafir...you say there is no god except the creator Allah. You start the trouble.

"Allah will never ever allow the kafir to be pleased with you. He created them and he moulded them to be your enemy.

"Jihad is moving up and proving yourself. It is something for you to look for. Go and look for it." The sheikh has been linked to alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid - awaiting trial in America - Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker on September 11 who is on remand in the US, and Feroz Abbasi, from Croydon, South London, who is among the prisoners at Camp X-Ray in Cuba.

Hamza is wanted by America and the Yemen.

Questions are now being asked over why he has not been dealt with under the Terrorism Act 2000 outlawing support for radical Islamic groups and making it a criminal offence to raise funds.

The only time Hamza has been detained was in 1999 when he was questioned by Scotland Yard detectives on suspicion of terrorism offences. He was held for several days and released without charge.

Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon, North London, has spoken out since September 11 on Hamza's suspected links with terrorists and alleged anti-American comments. He said the videos were "one more argument that it is about time action was taken against Hamza".

The MP added: "I believe he has committed incitement to violence and I find it very difficult to understand why he has not been subject to prosecution.""

A SPOKESWOMAN for the Home Office said she could not comment on the Hamza case, but added: "We are monitoring a number of individuals and organisations.

"The Home Secretary has powers to deport someone who represents a danger to the public good.""

The spokeswoman said someone seen to be inciting the public could warrant a Government investigation.

She added: "If it was seen as a threat, for example, to national security that could be a reason to deport somebody." Scotland Yard said it would be keen to study the tapes to see whether the cleric had broken the law.

At yesterday's rally in Trafalgar Square, Hamza refused to condemn terrorist atrocities against the West and said he backed a jihad: "We support a nice clean war.

"We don't know any war other than a holy war. We are not going to spill blood unnecessarily."

Hamza even claimed New York's Twin Towers collapsed from inside because of "an America-Zionist plot to blame the Muslim world".

He said: "There is no way these buildings could collapse in that manner after three hours.

"Al-Qaeda may have ambitions to do that, but I don't believe they did.

"I'm a trained civil engineer and I know from what I have seen those buildings collapsed from the inside."

The sheikh denied ever urging young Muslims to kill westerners. "I haven't said that," he said. "It is a crude statement. If you leave us alone, we will leave you alone."

Four people were arrested during clashes between rally supporters and far-right demonstrators. Two speakers were also arrested.

Two British National Party supporters were bundled to the ground by police and handcuffed before being led off for public order and breach of the peace offences as a banner proclaiming "Bin Laden is a murderer" was unfurled.